Today both the Los Angeles Times and the USA Today are running editorials against the government’s prosecution of Lori Drew under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. The Los Angeles Times editorial is titled “Government as CyberBully,” and it argues that Judge Wu should grant our motion to dismiss:
[T]he prosecutors’ interpretation of Section 1030 would “criminalize the everyday conduct of millions of Internet users.” The government should be particularly wary when the allegedly criminal activity is speech, even when that speech leads to something as tragic as Megan’s death. Websites can and should do a better job of responding to cyber-bullying and other abuses of their terms of service, rather than relying on the federal government to do it for them. Wu reserved judgment when Drew’s lawyer asked him to acquit Drew of the charges before the jury began its deliberations. He should grant that motion now.
The USA Today’s editorial is titled “MySpace case bends the law”:
Drew wasn’t convicted of driving someone to suicide or showing criminally poor judgment, but of violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, which makes unauthorized use of a computer a crime.
The law was written in the 1980s to deter computer hackers and has been revamped several times, but this was the first time it was used to punish cyberbullying. To find a way to charge Drew, prosecutors might have stretched the law too far and made potential criminals out of millions of Americans.
Any Internet surfer is familiar with the ritual it takes to join many websites, including social networking ones such as MySpace, which is where the bullying occurred. You’re presented with legalese known as the “terms of service” and asked to accept them. Most people never bother to read them, but by clicking “Yes” or “I accept,” you’ve crossed a legal threshold. If you violate those terms